One of the neatest Guns of My Life was a Model 1892 Winchester Lever Action. It wasn’t my rifle, it was Daddy’s. He picked it up at an auction somewhere, but it was a sweet piece.
In my late high school and early college years, my buddy, Mike Dawson, and I terrorized the groundhogs of Greenbrier County. Groundhogs were prolific in the limestone country around Lewisburg and farmers welcomed our efforts to take a few out of the hillsides. The groundhogs’ holes were always a threat to cattle and horses, and the varmints would absolutely decimate a corn field. So, Mike and I prowled the back country roads to hunt them. At first, we used .22 rifles with hollow point bullets. A pinpoint shot would do the job, but .22s were really too light for the task. Then, Daddy came home with the .357 Winchester which would absolutely would do a number on groundhogs. The best part is that a .357 rifle would also chamber a .38 cartridge and we had boxes and boxes of .38 shells. Daddy, an FBI Agent, would go to Quantico yearly for training and target practice where they doled out free boxes of .38s. A .38 wasn’t quite as powerful as a .357, but it got the job done.
The Model 1892 was compact, fast and fun to shoot. I liked the lever action because it brought out a little of the cowboy in me (after years of watching Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and John Wayne movies). It was easy to load and very accurate.
The last year of our competition, I beat Mike with 19 groundhogs to his 18. It wasn’t much of a dent in the huge population, but “Podner”, we did our part.
